Weird Temperament

[A440A@AOL.COM]

>? I told him that there weren't going to be any thirds tuned
> "pure" in the Kirnberger, and if any of the historical temperaments would
> have a pure third, it would be C-E. Was I wrong?
  
   Well, the Kirnberger III has the four fifths tempered in the 1/4comma 
relationships, giving a Just C-E.  This is a pretty well documented tuning of 
its time and has three thirds of 21 cents.  Lotta color. 

>   I did tell him to check the thirds in his temperament before he went
>on, and showed him how they should be relatively slow in C and progress in
>beat speeds as he went around the cycle of fifths until he started back down
>the back side of the cycle and they should start slowing down again. 

I would take that to have created a temperament that is representative of 
practise in 1800  and later.  Who knows what people were shaping 200 years 
ago. We can only interpret the instructions, tune one,  an see how it affects 
the music.  (heavy work, but somebody has to do it)

   I have only had a couple of customers begin to tell me how they want their 
temperament, and as soon as I asked them to clarify a point or two, they 
always tell me to do what I think best.  It ain't rocket science. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote